


I'll Be Fine

by Mustang_Girl16



Series: Full House [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, I did a bad thing to Peggy, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, based off of Full House, you're gonna cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-01 03:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12148122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mustang_Girl16/pseuds/Mustang_Girl16
Summary: After the death of his wife Peggy, Retired Army Captain Steve Rogers is struggling to adjust to the life of a single father of three girls: Sarah-11, Alexis-5 ¾, and Baby Ella-6 months. In an effort to help take some of the burden off their friend, Retired Army Sargent James “Bucky” Barnes and Retired Air Force Paratrooper Sam “Falcon” Wilson move in to help take care of the girls. Along the way they together learn what it’s like to be a real family, not just one of blood, but one that sticks close no matter how bad things get.





	I'll Be Fine

**Author's Note:**

> Hi...  
> I know again I shouldn't be starting something, but I started this back in March technically.  
> So here's how this works, this is obviously based off the American Sitcom "Full House". LOVED this show growing up. It had real value and didn't shy away from topics that are considered unapproachable like many of the shows from it's run time. So with this It's not going to be chaptered but set like a TV show. You get a new one every week or so I'll try. This will have multiple pairings and different ships will appear. So not every single "episode" will show up in your fandoms ship log thing...so if you want to stay on top of it all hit subscribe so you can get the emails or follow me on Tumblr at gomustanggirl16.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I own only the few original characters you'll see sporadically, the plot is only like a quarter mine because it is based off the TV show "Full House" but won't stick to the full plot the whole time I'm adding my own spin to it. Jokes and references will be made and I will start it off by saying you'll see them and know. I make shit off this, none, zero, zilch. Okay I think I covered it. Also I used names I hear commonly used for the kids. Except Lexi and Ella I just like those names. But the other two are cannon names for the fandom and rest actual cannon.
> 
> Please enjoy and let me know what you guys think!

Steve stared up at the ceiling, watching the blades on the fan spin around, mind blank. Three months. She’d already been gone for three months and he felt like he was drowning. Either that or it could be Lexi’s foot in his ribcage again. Sure enough his young daughter had snuck into bed again last night. He sighed sliding out of bed and walking into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Steve sat down on the bed and ran a hand through Lexi’s brown curls, gently stirring her.

“Hey sweet girl, time to get up.” Lexi’s bright blue eyes stared up at him and frowned.

“But I don’t wanna.” Steve chuckled.

“I know you don’t, but today’s a big day. Your first day of kindergarten. So you gotta get up.” Lexi sighed slowly getting down and heading back to her room.

Steve followed her out of the room, and down the hall some stopping in front of Sarah’s door and knocked before going in. She was wrapped tightly in her blankets sound asleep. He walked over, pulling the blankets away from her face. She was awake. Much like him she wasn’t big on sleeping late and he knew she was looking forward to her first day of fourth grade.

“Come on baby girl time to get up.”

“Fine.” Well at least she wasn’t fighting him. She sat up, blonde curls a mess and sulked to the bathroom.

He then walked over to the last room and was glad to see Ellie sitting up smiling in her crib.

“Well at least one of you is in a good mood.” Steve smiled back at his youngest, taking her out of her crib. She babbled back at him, clutching his shirt. He could feel the tears threatening and cleared his throat. He needed to get breakfast made and the girl’s lunches packed still.

* * *

 

Steve flipped off the burner, piling the last pancake onto the stack and setting the plate on the table.

“Girls breakfast!” Sarah and Lexi came slowly down the stairs and Steve knew where this was going.

“Daddy.” Sarah only called him that when she wanted something as of late. He sighed and the girl’s faces fell.

“Girls, you have to go to school.”

“But dad,”

“I know. It’ll be fine I promise. Come on now, I made blueberry pancakes.” The girl’s seemed too brighten up more at the sound and smell of their favorite breakfast.

The girls ate while Steve finished packing up their lunches and made sure they had everything they needed for school. Since it was the first day he was going to take them. The drive to school wasn’t all that bad, normally the girls were so chatty, but ever since the accident…well he guessed none of them were the same, but he still longed for the sound of their laughter to return. Maybe with getting back into the normal routine of school again would help.

He got Ella out of her car seat and together they walked into the school. Since it was Lexi’s first day of kindergarten, there would be an orientation, but that wasn’t for another ten minutes and Steve had wanted to meet Sarah’s teacher. Speaking of Sarah…

“Nikki!!!” _Oh no…they’re back._ Sarah ran over to her best friend hugging her as the two squealed.

“Sarah! Hi Captain Rogers!” He heard Lexi groan. Nicole Stark his daughters one and currently only best friend. But if Nikki was back than that meant…

“Spangles!” _Damn it._ Steve inwardly cringed at the nick name as he turned around to see one Tony Stark, Nikki’s father, but thankfully Pepper was with him. She smacked her husband, and scolded him.

“What he means is hi Steve. How are you?” Yeah that was a good question.

“Better.” He forced a smile and Pepper nodded. It wasn’t a complete lie, he was doing better, but there was still room to improve.

“That’s good to hear.” She looked down at Lexi smiling. “You excited for your first day?”

Lexi shrugged. “I guess.”

“Speaking of first day we better head on over and get you to class. It was good seeing you two.”

“Same here Steve. We’ll have to see about getting the girl’s together. I know Nikki’s been dying to see Sarah.” Pepper offered, her smile soft and genuine.

“I think Sarah would like.” He smiled again at them once more before turning around to say goodbye to Sarah, but she’d already disappeared. Oh well.

They walked over to the Kindergarten center and stopped outside Lexi’s class room. He looked down at his middle child as she held on tightly to his leg. This was going to require some force.

“You ready?” Lexi looked up with tears in her eyes and he knelt down. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

“Daddy please don’t make me.” Give him a platoon of unruly argumentative soldiers, terrorists, politicians. Anything but this.

“I know it’s hard, but it’s just school okay? Not even an entire day.”

“I want mommy.” He closed his eyes and gave her one last squeeze, before separating them.

“I know. If she could be here she would, but…you gotta be strong okay.” He whipped away a tear that had fallen on her cheek and kissed her forehead.

She inched away slowly and looked back at him nervous when she’d reached the door. He gave her a small smile and she took a deep breath before turning and walking inside. He watched her find her name on her desk and sit down next to another girl her age. The girl smiled brightly and that seemed to lesson Lexi’s nerves.

“She yours?” Steve turned to find a dirty blond haired man who was a few inches shorter and a few years older than him. Steve also took note of his demeanor, military maybe, but more likely secret service or FBI.

“Uh yeah.” The man must have taken the hint.

“Sorry man, Clint Barton. I was only asking because my daughter Lila’s the one she’s seated next to.” Oh. Steve smiled slightly embarrassed. He took the man’s outstretched hand.

“Steve Rogers and yeah that’s my daughter Alexis.” Clint smiled.

“It’s nice to see another dad here. I thought I’d be the only one.” Steve chuckled.

“Yeah same here.”

“So who’s this?” He asked pointing to Ella as she watched wearingly at Clint.

“My youngest Ella, I have another one too, Sarah she’s somewhere. Probably already in class.”

“Wow. All girls. I have a son Nate around Ella’s age, and another one Cooper in fourth.”

“That’s the same age as Sarah.”

“Well look at that, you just got yourself a new dad friend.” Steve chuckled and heard a phone go off. It was Clint’s. He sighed.

“Sorry, I gotta get to work, but hey you know what let me talk to my wife maybe we could have you guys over sometime. I know she’d love to have another mom around.” Steve didn’t have time to correct him before Clint answered his cell and walked away. Yeah…he’d sure like to have her around too.

Steve was about to walk away when he heard someone calling for him, or actually Peggy. He looked back to see a young woman, it must have been Ms. Maximoff.

“Uh, you’re looking for Mrs. Rogers?” She smiled brightly.

“Yes, do you happen to know where I could find her?” Steve’s face fell a little.

“Uh, I’m her husband, or…” he had no idea how to tell her this.

“Oh, well will your wife be joining us?”

“Uh, no. She uh, she’s gone, or well she passed away back in May, so…” He watched Ms. Maximoff’s face change from bright and happy to sad and slightly embarrassed for having not known.

“I am so sorry I didn’t-”

“It’s ok. There was no way. Uh why were you…?” she nodded.

“Uh when Lexi was enrolled last spring your wife signed up to be room mom. Please don’t feel like you have to, I can just ask around and see if another mom can-”

“No it’s fine. What exactly does a room mom do?” She smiled.

“Just helps around the class room when needed. Organizes games or snacks. Helps me decorate. I can email you about it more if you’d like?” He nodded and gave her his contact info so she didn’t have to go rummaging through the student files for it.

After he was finished at the school he drove home. Walking through the door Ella had already fallen asleep for her nap. He walked upstairs and placed her in her crib. He walked back into his room and splashed water on his face. Looking in the mirror he saw his scruffy face and huffed. If he was going to try and make things normal again for the girls he was going to have to get back on track himself.

* * *

 

A few hours later he’d cleaned up his face and got to cleaning around the house. He twisted his wedding band around his finger. He needed something to do. The girls had kept him occupied over the summer, but Ella was still too little to do much of anything. He couldn’t let his thoughts wander, when his thoughts wandered…

Soon though the bus pulled up dropping off the girls from school. They were slightly more happy, a little weirded out to see him clean shaven, but happier. That was good, he could work with that. The girls got settled in to their homework and he started on dinner. That’s when he heard the front door open.

“Hey you guys home?” Sam walked into the kitchen and Steve felt a little relieved.

“Uncle Sam!” Sarah and Lexi ran over to hug Sam.

Since Peggy passed, Sam’s stopped by at least once a day to check up on how they were doing. It was a great help and Steve honestly didn’t know how he would have been able to handle it all had Sam not been there. Sam must have asked the girls to go upstairs to give the two friends time to talk.

“How’d it go?” Steve cringed.

“Sarah bolted as soon as she got out of the car. Lexi pulled the ‘daddy don’t make me’ and refused to let go.” Sam looked genuinely sorry for him.

“Man, it’ll get easier.” Steve laughed.

“Lexi’s teacher came out asking for Peg. Apparently when we enrolled Lexi she’d signed up to be room mom.” Sam gave him a small smile.

“Sounds like her. You said you’d do it didn’t you?” Steve nodded.

“Ms. Maximoff said she’d e-mail me.” Sam laughed.

“You got room mom. Oh god. Captain America now Captain Room Mom.” Steve punched him jokingly.

“Don’t you start too.” Steve warned.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.” Sam wrinkled his nose.

“I was really hoping Stark would have gone through with moving to Cali.”

“Nope.” Sam sighed exasperated.

“Yay.”

“She’s Sarah’s best friend. I’ll put up with Stark if it means Sarah’s got someone to talk to and to be able to just relax with.”

“Yeah I know.”

The timer went off on the oven and Steve pulled out the ziti.

“You staying for dinner?” Sam smiled hungrily at the food.

“Uh yeah!”

* * *

 

A few days into the week Steve received his discharge papers. He sat down on the couch staring at the pieces of paper. For the last twelve years his life had been the army. The last few months had been nothing, but a rollercoaster ride and when the army offered to have him honorably discharged he knew it was the right thing to do. He couldn’t risk the chance of another deployment. He was all the girls had now. Still it felt weird. He knew guys who said integrating would be the hardest thing he would ever do, but this would probably be the easiest thing he’d do. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the doorbell ring. Steve opened the door and had to look twice.

“Stevie!!! I’m home!!!” Steve breathed out a sigh of relief when his best friend appeared.

“Uncle Bucky!” Sarah and Lexi ran down the stairs and into Bucky’s awaiting arms.

“No. It can’t be. Last time I saw you two you were yay big.” Bucky said exaggerating. It had been a long time since he’d seen the girls though, since their last deployment.

Bucky stood back up straight though and sobered up when he met Steve’s eyes.

“Hey girls mind giving me and your pops a minute?” they nodded and went upstairs. “Come here.”

The two friends hugged and Steve felt his resolve braking.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming home.” Bucky chuckled.

“I didn’t know until literally five minutes before they shoved us all on the plane.” He tightened the hug briefly before letting go. “I’m so sorry Steve. I-”

“Buck, you would have been here if you could, but you were needed elsewhere.” Bucky nodded.

“I got my papers.” Steve’s eyes widened. “You are now looking at one Sargent James Barnes, retired honorably discharged. I’m back for good.”

Steve wasn’t going to lie that was a relief. He saw Bucky’s eyes wander to Ella, who he’d had yet to meet. Steve nodded and Bucky happily walked over to meet his new niece.

“Dang, she looks like you. Poor kid.” Bucky joked as he held Ella. She frowned at the face Bucky made. “Got your attitude to, I see.”

“Yeah.” Bucky looked up at him sighing as he sat down on the couch.

“How you holding up? And don’t lie, your terrible at it.” Steve sat down on the chair across from where Bucky sat.

“I still wake up thinking I’ll turn over and she’ll be there…but she’s not.” Bucky pulled his lips into a tight smile.

“I should have been there Buck. I met my baby girl at her mother’s funeral. Sarah resents me, and Lexi’s…Lexi’s her mom and that worries me. I don’t know what to do. I can’t blame Sarah, I resent me too. Lexi, I don’t know what to do. I’m absolutely clueless.”

“How were you supposed to know something was going to happen? They know if you could have been here you would have Steve.” Steve shook his head.

“It was a choice Buck. I didn’t have to be deployed that time.”

“Exactly. That time. If it weren’t then it would have been some other time. Steve…If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that if it’s meant to happen it will. There’s no way to tell if had you been home the jack off wouldn’t have hit her. There’s no point in drowning yourself in what ifs.”

“But I still could have been there for the girls. Instead of some cop showing up at their school.” Bucky watched him quickly brush the tears from his eyes.

“Have you talked to anyone?” Steve huffed out a laugh. No, and he didn’t need to either.

“I just…I’ll be fine. I just need to focus on the girls.” Bucky nodded.

“It’s been three months. What have you told the Army?” Steve shook his head.

“I go my papers this morning. Gotta say you have excellent timing.” Bucky nodded a small smile appearing on his face.

“Yeah, well…” There was silence and Steve could tell there was something else on his mind.

“You don’t have a place to crash do you?” Bucky made a face.

“What no!” Steve frowned. “Yeah ok. All my stuffs in the storage unit and trying to find a place to rent in DC is harder than finding a decent slice.”

Steve shook his head smiling.

“You know you’re always welcome here, but uh I’m still working on finishing the basement.” Bucky smiled and handed Ella to Steve, before walking out the front door and returning with bags in hand.

“Man the couch is better than the ground. I’ll take it.” Steve laughed and the two settled back into easy conversation.

* * *

 

The weekend came and Steve had never been more grateful to have someone else staying in the house. The girls loved Bucky and it gave Steve time to take care of bills and start looking for a job. As much as Steve dreaded it, he couldn’t stay home and do nothing. They needed a source of income if he wanted to keep a roof over their heads. Only problem, he’s a single father of three just discharged after losing his wife. It was going to be difficult to find a job that worked around the girl’s schedules. He had no college degree, no background besides the army and he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Daddy?” Steve looked up to see Lexi standing in the doorway to his office.

“Hey sweetie. What are you doing up?” Steve glanced at the clock to see it was almost midnight. Lexi came over with her stuffed dog in hand and climbed up onto his lap.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He knew that was only half of it. It was now considered a miracle for her to sleep in her own bed for an entire night.

“Sweetie,”

“Can I sleep with you?”

“Lexi…” _No, not the pouty face, anything but the-and there it is._ Steve sighed. “Okay. But after tonight you need to start sleeping in your own bed.”

Lexi Nodded happily and Steve closed down his lap top, calling it a night.

 

* * *

 

Steve walked Lexi into school and watched her go up to Lila. The girls got to talking and Steve felt a little more at ease. He felt someone touch his shoulder and immediately grabbed the hand making to put the person down.

“Hey! Sorry!” He let go of Clint’s arm praying no one saw that.

“No, I’m sorry, reflex.” Clint chuckled nodding.

“Should have known better, then to approach the great Captain America without warning.” Steve furrowed his brow and stared back at Clint. _How did he…?_ Clint held up a file. His file. The one from the army.

“Where did you…?”

“Agent Clint Barton. FBI. I knew you looked familiar when we met and call me paranoid I did a background check since Lila wouldn’t stop talking about her new friend. Impressive resume.”

“Wouldn’t really call it a resume.”

“Maybe, but my boss seemed fairly impressed. Three tours, responsible for saving not only his own men, but nearly four hundred others who were under siege.”

“It was a group effort.”

“Leader of the Howling Commandos and comes highly recommended by all of his superiors.” Clint kept reading. “You’re a hero.”

Steve scoffed.

“If you got all that then you know I’m no hero.” Clint frowned.

“Yeah, I read. Sorry about the-yeah. I know it’s early still, but I also know a guy with your background doesn’t settle easily.”

“Are you offering me a job?” Clint shrugged.

“Do you want one?” Steve looked at him wondering what his endgame was.

“FBI. I don’t know. That requires Quantico and I can’t leave the girls.”

“Bosses are willing to do a more on the job training for you.” Steve raised his eyebrow. “What? You think the FBI’s the only one looking to recruit you? With your background Quantico can be overlooked.”

“Still, I’ve got my girls to worry about and I don’t think a job where I’d be shot at all the time is a good idea.” Clint laughed.

“That’s only certain departments. The Bureau’s a lot more than bullets and bad guys. I’ve got three kids, former Marine and still yeah sure it’s ruff sometimes, but it’s not that bad. A lot of paperwork, but we could use a guy with a background in tacticians and international affairs.”

“I don’t know.” Clint smiled and handed him a card.

“My boss would still ask you to maybe consider it. He would be more than happy to meet with you, answer any questions you have. I know we don’t really know each other, but I wouldn’t have agreed to talk to you if I thought it was a bad idea. Have a good day Captain.”

“Steve.” Clint turned back to face him.

“Huh?”

“Steve. I prefer to be called Steve.” Clint smiled

“Well then Steve, be seeing you.”

* * *

 

“Wait you got offered a job?” Bucky asked. Steve was sitting on the couch folding laundry, as Bucky interrogated him.

“Yeah. By one of the other dads.”

“And?”

“And what? I’m not taking it.” Bucky frowned.

“I get the concern Steve, but what’s the harm in at least going in and getting all the facts?” Steve set down the shirt he’d been folding and looked at him.

“What’s the point? I got no one to watch the girls, the hours will be unpredictable, and the risk-”

“You just told me this Clint guy is another dad with kids the same age as yours.”

“Yeah, and he’s got a wife around to help.” Steve leaned back into the couch. Bucky was determined to get him to go to this interview.

“Look I’ll watch the girls if you go to the interview, get the facts then worry about everything else.” Steve shook his head.

“If I go will you stop bugging me?”

“Yes!”

“Fine. I’ll call the FBI and make an appointment.”

Bucky smiled and picked up the remote turning on the game.

* * *

 

_This was a bad idea._

Steve thought to himself as he sat in the lobby of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. Director Fury had wanted to meet with him the next day and Steve could tell he was eager to get him on board.

“Captain Rogers, the director will see you know.” Steve stood and followed the secretary into a large conference room. There was a tall dark skinned man with an eye patch and a raven haired woman.

“Captain, it’s an honor. My names Nick Fury. You may call me Fury, and this is Deputy Director Maria Hill.” Steve shook both their hands and they all took a seat.

“I’d like to thank you for meeting with us today. I know this decision isn’t an easy one. My condolences by the way.” Steve nodded. He was really getting tired of hearing that.

“Thank you. Agent Barton told me you were eager. Said you could use someone like me, but honestly I don’t see it.” Fury hummed.

“Yet your still here.” Steve chuckled.

“Point, but still...”

“Captain,” Deputy Director Hill started

“You have been of great service to your country and you still can be. You have experience that only a handful of our operatives carry. Most soldiers we get through here are loners, but you, you have the experience and the skill set to lead. That, along with your background in tacticians, alone is a very rare combination. You can lead, but you can also pull back and let others lead as well.”

“Captain we know you have concerns, but here’s what we’d like to propose. Since we are overlooking Quantico, you’ll have to be trained in the field which will take some time, up to about five-six months.” Fury explained.

“We thought that we could do a trial basis. At the end, if you still feel like this isn’t the best option than alright. At least we gave it a go.” Steve looked between the two. It was a fair deal, probably one he would only receive once. But he still couldn’t help thinking of his girls.

“It sounds fair, but my oldest is ten, middle almost six and my youngest is barely crawling. Even if I had someone to help me out, I don’t know if the risk is worth it. They just lost their mother, I can’t take the chance.” Fury nodded.

“We understand, but at least take a few days to think about it? This won’t be like the Army. Yeah you’ll be going after some nasty people, but it’s all domestic, we rarely stray out of that, and if we do it would only be a consult. The worst incident we’ve had in a while was someone got shot in the foot. And that was a new guy who got scared and shot himself. It’s not like what you see on TV, mostly paperwork sitting in court, and attending galas as privet security. I wouldn’t have asked to meet if I’d thought it wasn’t a good idea and Barton sure as hell wouldn’t have talked to you if he thought the same. Just think about it?”

Steve sighed and shook his head, knowing if he just said he’d think about they’d stop trying to talk him into it.

“Okay, I’ll think on it and get back to you.” Fury smiled.

“Thank you Captain. We look forward to hearing from you.”

* * *

 

Steve was barely in the door when he was attacked by Lexi.

“Where were you?” Lexi had tears in her eyes and Steve knew this couldn’t have been good.

“I was just at a job interview.”

“Why?”

“Because I need a job. But I don’t think I’m gonna take it.” Lexi smiled, the tears gone from her eyes.

“So you’re going to stay home with us?”

“Sweetheart I’d love to, but I am going to have to get a job. For now though yes.” Lexi looked unsure and he knew this was going to come back to bite him in the ass.

“Okay.”

“Where’s Uncle Bucky?”

“Upstairs with Uncle Sam trying to change Ella’s diaper.” _Oh boy._

 

Steve walked into the nursery to find Bucky holding Ella out at arm’s length while Sam tried to wipe her down with a cloth on a pair of tongs. Both men wearing rubber gloves and face masks.

“You know she’s not radioactive right?” Steve said taking his baby from his friends.

“Yeah well that bomb she left in her diaper says otherwise.” Bucky countered.

“You guys are ridiculous.” He got Ella changed and into onesie. “There you go, all better now.”

Ella smiled happily, content enough for Steve to set her down. He turned back to his two friends shaking his head.

“Anything else happen while I was gone?”

“Uh nope. Relatively calm.” Steve nodded.

“How’d it go?” Bucky asked.

“Oh yeah, well you going for it?” Sam seemed pretty happy, to bad Steve was about to burst his bubble.

“Nah, it’s not worth it.” the two men frowned.

“Man, what are we going to do with you? That was a once in a life time chance!” Steve shook his head.

“Even if I thought it would be a good idea, who would take care of the girls?” Bucky and Sam looked at each other. Clearly he’d missed something.

“We will.” Steve laughed.

“You two? You can barely change a diaper! Not to mention how?” Sam shrugged.

“We’ll work it out. My lease is almost up, I can look for a place near here-” Steve shook his head.

“Sam thank you, thank you both, but I couldn’t do that to either of you.”

“We want to. I know you like the job Steve, I can tell by the look on your face. If the girls weren’t a concern would you take it?” Of course he would, but the girls were a concern.

“They’re my main concern.” Bucky sighed.

“Alright fine.” Sam furrowed his brow and looked at him.

“Are we really just gonna-” Bucky shrugged.

“He’s made up his mind.”

“Thank you.” they both nodded and watched Steve walk out of the room.

“What are you-?”

“Just wait and see.”

* * *

 

Later that night as Steve helped the girls get ready for bed he couldn’t stop thinking about the job. If he did agree it would only be on a trial basis, it wasn’t like he was committing to it forever. It would at least give him a better idea of what it would be like. He kissed Lexi goodnight and walked over to Sarah’s room. She’d already gotten into bed and turned out the lights. He didn’t know what she was thinking. He knew Lexi’s stance on him getting a job, but Sarah’s? He was clueless.

He walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Sarah?” she peeked an eye open and he knew she was annoyed.

“Yeah?”

“Come on I want to talk to you for a minute.” Sarah sighed, but turned on the lamp next to her bed and sat up.

“What about?”

“I know, this hasn’t been easy.” She rolled her eyes and he did his best to overlook that in hopes of getting through. “But I know Lexi told you about the job interview.”

“I thought you quite the army?”

“I didn’t quite I retired, but that doesn’t mean were set for life. If we want to keep this house than I need to pay the bills and I can’t do that without a job.” Sarah sighed nodding.

“Why the FBI?” So, she had overheard. _Of course, she had, she has my hearing._

“One of the other dads at school works there. His bosses caught wind and they offered me a job. It’d be on a trial basis, about six months. But I already told them no.” Sarah frowned.

“But you want to?”

“Want to what?”

“You want to take the job.” Steve nudged her over so he could lean back against the headboard and Sarah curled up into his side.

“Six months ago yeah, I might have, but not now.”

“Because of us?”

“Yeah. You girls are my world and I don’t want to do anything that could take me away from you.” Sarah looked up at him and he knew she wasn’t one hundred percent on board.

“If it’s only a trial basis, then…maybe you should. Try it, at least.” Steve looked down at her. She may only be eleven, but she was way more mature than her age suggested.

“Sarah…I don’t want you to feel like you have to say this.”

“I don’t. You wouldn’t have gone to the meeting if some part of you thought it could work. And if there’s another dad at school who works there too than it can’t be all that bad.” She gave him a small smile and a shrug.

“I don’t think it would be, but…there’s still the matter of you guys and having someone around to watch you after school.”

“Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam already said they would do it. Aside from the diaper incident they could do it.” Steve laughed a little at the memory. He shook his head, she was so much like her mother.

“Get some sleep.” She nodded and he kissed her hair, tucking her in.

Walking from the room he considered what she’d said. It would take some getting used to, but he knew if Sarah was on board for trying than she could help persuade Lexi. The only other thing would be figuring out how to get the babysitters here and everywhere else. Well Bucky wasn’t an issue for now since he was crashing on the couch, but he’d just gotten the job at the bar and Sam lived across town, but his lease was about to expire. Steve looked in-between Sarah and Lexi’s room and he got an idea.

“You two could move in.” Steve said as he came down the stairs.

“What?” Sam turned to look at him confused.

“You said your lease is up soon, and Bucky’s already crashing on the couch. You mainly work nights and mornings and Bucky at night. It would be easier than trying to find a new apartment and cheaper. I mean I’d ask you two to pay a little bit of a rent, but nothing like you’d be paying elsewhere. Only though if you’d still be willing to help me with the girls.”

Bucky smirked.

“Told you he’d come around. Though I didn’t expect the invitation to live here.” Steve shrugged.

“I could use the help. The jobs good and it’s only a trial basis. But I could only take it if you guys were willing-” Sam cut him off.

“Man of course we are. But problem, there’s two of us and one basement.” Steve smiled.

“Yeah well, Sarah’s room is big enough that she could share with Lexi and one of you takes Lexi’s room.”

“I don’t know, you think they’d be okay?” Bucky asked hesitantly.

“They’re sisters, so maybe not at first, but eventually yes. So what do you say?”

Sam and Bucky smirked, looking at each other.

“Best two out of there? Loser gets the bunnies.” Sam nodded.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot-”

 


End file.
